Hinge construction



Dec. 17, 1935.

S. BRANTINGSON HINGE CONSTRUCTION Filed Sept. '7, 1955 MW i www ii Patented Dec. 17, 1935 PATENT OFFICE HINGE CONSTRUCTION Sigurd Brantingson, Palisades Park, N. J., assignor to Francis Keil & Son, Inc., a corporation of New York Application September 7, 1933, Serial No. 688,455

3 Claims.

This invention relates to hinge construction and more particularly to heavy-duty precision hinge construction and installations.

One of the objects of this invention is to provide a thoroughly practical and inexpensive hinge construction that will be well adapted to meet certain peculiar varying conditions met with in practical use. Another object is to provide a hinge construction that will be of wide adaptability and yet be simple, strong, and durable. Another object is to provide a hinge construction in which such objects as those just noted are dependably achieved while at the same time maintaining simplicity and ease of installation and nicety and neatness of appearance. Another object is to provide a hinge construction of the above-mentioned character which will have, to meet certain varying conditions met with in practice, foolproof and self-locking adjustability.

Other objects will be in part obvious or in part pointed out hereinafter.

The invention accordingly consists in the features of construction, combinations of elements, and arrangements of parts as will be exemplified in the structure to be hereinafter described and the scope of the application of which will be indicated in the following claims.

In the accompanying drawing in which is shown one of various possible embodiments of my invention,

Figure 1 is a horizontal sectional View, on a small scale, illustrating a practical installation of my hinge construction;

Figure 2 is an exploded plan view of the various parts making up my hinge construction;

Figure 3 is a vertical sectional view as seen along the line 33 of Figure 2, and

Figure 4 is a perspective view on an enlarged scale of one of the parts of the hinge construction.

Similar reference characters refer to similar parts throughout the several views of the drawing.

Referring first to Figure 1 of the drawing, I have there indicated a wall or chamber I having an opening therein closed by a door II; illustratively and as conducive to a clearer understanding of certain features of my invention, the chamber I Il-I I might be considered to be a cooling or refrigerating compartment such as is used for the storage of particularly food products and the like and in which of necessity the walls and doors are heavily insulated and are of substantial mass or weight. The door II may be of any suitable shape or construction but usually it is so constructed or shaped that its front face II projecting forwardly from the front or outer face II] of the chamber, the door II sometimes having outer peripheral parts, as indicated in Figure 1, that overlap the front face of the cham- 5 ber wall in order thus to achieve a better sealing or closure of the chamber itself.

The door II is hinged to a wall of the chamber ID by any suitable number of hinges, one of which appears in elevation in Figure 1. In installations of particularly this character, however, there exist such wide variations between the spacing of the planes or faces II (of the door II) and Ill (of the wall of the chamber ID), that either of the hinges to be employed must be specially constructed to take care of the particular offset existing between these planes and thus it is necessary to manufacture or to maintain in stock a complete array of hinges having different offsets, if these varying conditions in practice are to be coped with. Such practice, however, has many disadvantages and one of the dominant aims of this invention is to provide a hinge construction which will meet such varying conditions in practice and achieve other advantages.

Illustratively the hinge construction includes a hinge member I2 (Figures 1 and 2) preferably in the shape of a suitable elongated plate member provided with suitable holes I3 by which it may be secured, as by screws or bolts, to the front face II of the door II; its left-hand portion (Figures 1 and 2) may be of substantial width and preferably is of increased thickness, thus to provide a plurality of eye members of which, for purposes of illustration, four are shown in the embodiment selected for illustration in the drawing; these four eyes (Figure 2) are indicated at I4, I5, I6 and I1, and they are vertically spaced and alined, having therethrough apertures I4 l5 I6 and I1, respectively, also alined, for the ultimate reception of a suitable hinge pin or pintle, such as that shown at I8 (Figure 2).

With the plate-like hinge member l2 attached to the door II (Figure 1) there will thus exist a certain spacing, indicated at A in Figure 1 between the axis of the alined apertures in the eye members I 4-45, etc., and the plane Ill of the chamber wall II].

Secured to the chamber wall I0 is a companion hinge part generally indicated at I9 (Figures 1, 2 and 3) and this part I9, which like the member I 2 above described may be made in the form of a casting, has a base plate portion I9 provided with suitable holes 20, whereby the part I9 may be secured as by screws or bolts to the fixed or stationary wall of the chamber, assuming a position as will appear from Figure 1.

The central area or portion of the member I9 is increased in thickness as at I9 (Figures 2 and 3) and, where the coacting hinge member I2 is provided with four eye members as above described, I prefer to provide the hinge member I9 with at least three eye members adapted to be alined with the eye members of the hinge member I2, so that all of the eye members may receive the hinge pin or pintle I8; but it is to be understood,

of course, that the numbers of eye members abovementioned or shown in the drawing are illustrative and may be departed from if desired.

Where I employ three eye members on the fixed hinge plate I9, I provide in the latter three vertically alined holes I9, I9 and I9 (Figure 3), these holes being threaded, preferably with a thread of relatively small pitch. Into the threaded open-' ings- I9, I9 and I9 are threaded the threaded shanks 2 I 22 and 23 of the stationary eye members 2 I, 22 and 23, respectively, the outer or righthand ends of the latter terminating in the eyes 2 l 22 and 23*, the latter in turn being provided with apertures 2 I 22 and 23, respectively, these apertures being of the same size and shape as those in the eyes I4, I5, etc. of the other hinge member I2.

In Figure 4 is shown in perspective and on enlarged scale one of the eye members related to the fixed hinge plate I9, and a detaileddescription of that one will suflice for all. Referring then to Figure 4 and assuming that the eyemember 2I is there shown, the member 2I is made of a single piece of suitable metal, such as steel, for example, and its shank portion 2 I is cylindrical and of adequate axial length, for purposes described more in detail hereinafter. Its eye portion 2 I is in general of rectangular vertical cross-section thus providing upper and lower faces for coaction with the faces of the eye members I4, I5, etc. of the other hinge member I2 and for coaction with other parts mentioned hereinafter. Like the eye portions of the hinge member I2, the eye portion 2 I (Figure 4) may be exteriorly rounded or curved, preferably concentrically with the cylindrical hole or aperture 2 I that extends transversely through the eye portion 2I Before applying the plate portion I9 to the fixed wall, such as the outer face III of the chamber III (Figure 1) I'preferably bore or drill as many holes 24 (see now Figure 3) as there are eye members in the plate portion I9, the holes 24 being when the hinge construction is installed, the drilling or boring of these holes, I provide, integrally formed therewith, rearward cylindrical extensions on the back face of the member I9; these extensions are better shown in Figure 3 at I9 59 and I9 being respectively concentric with the holes I 9, I9 and I9 and being also threaded. In such case the holes 24 are, or course, of suffioient diameter to allow these rearward extensions 'to be received therein; 75'

I now rotate the eye members 2 I, 22, etc., each with relation to the other, so as to bring the spacing A (Figures 3 and 1) between the axes of the pintle-receiving holes 2I, 22, etc., of these eye members and the face III exactly commensurate with the offset between the planes"III and I I of the parts I 0 and I I, respectively (Figure 1), at the same time, of course, alining the axes of the holes 2 I, 22, etc.

The above-mentioned fixing of the spacing A by rotating the eye members 2I'22, etc., may 1 be accomplished in any suitable manner; preferably I first secure the member I9 to the fixed wall part and then determine the spacing A with the door seated in closed position, holding the member I2 flat against the face of the door. When the proper spacing has just been achieved, the hinge portion I2 may then be secured to the door.

The eye members 2I, 22, etc. are now ready to have related thereto the eye members I4, I5, etc. of the other hinge portion I2, the uppermost three eye members of the hinge member I2 transferring the weight of the door II to the three eye members 2I, 22 and 23, respectively, but preferably through suitable anti-friction or ball bearing members indicated in Figure 2 at 25, 26 and 21, respectively. All of the eye members and bearing members having been alined, thepivot pin, pintle, or bolt I8 is put through all of the alined apertureaand the construction is ready for operation and use. 30

The hinge pin I8, however, passes through all of the otherwise rotatable eye members 2 I, 22, etc., of the hinge'part I9, and thus'each eye member acts, in coaction with the hinge pin I8, to lock another eye member against rotation about the axis of the threaded shank.

Should the offset of the door with respect to the wall be other than that indicated in Figures 1 and 3, each eye member 2|, 22, etc. is given the same angular rotation, in multiples of 180, in

one direction or the other, depending upon whether the offset is less or greater, and thus a wide range of different offsets may be taken care of by the same or single hinge construction. Preferably also the pitch of the thread employed on the shanks is relatively small in order that small increments of differences in offsets may be dependably obtained.

It will thus be seen that there has been provided in this vention a hinge construction in which the various objects above noted, together with many thoroughly practical advantages, are successfully achieved. It will be seen that the construction is thoroughly practical, is capable of inexpensive manufacture, and is strong and 56. durable and, moreover, foolproof and reliable. It will also be seen that the construction is well adapted to meet the widely varying conditions met with in practice. 7

As many possible embodiments may be made of 60.- the above invention and as many changes might be made in the embodiment above set forth, it is to be understood that all matter hereinbefore set forth, or shown in the accompanying drawing, is to be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

I claim:-

1. A hinge construction for doors having varying degrees of offsets with respect to the wall or frame in which they are mounted comprising, in combination, a hinge unit comprising a platelike member having projecting from the plane thereof a plurality of alined tube-like portions interiorly threaded, each portion having threaded thereinto a threaded shank whose one end terminates in an eye member, the threads of each shank being of the same pitch and the axis of the opening in the eye member extending at right angles to the axis of the threaded shank, whereby, upon rotation of said threaded shanks in increments of 180 the spacing of the axes of the openings of the eye members from a plane of said plate member may be made the same and commensurate with the offset between the door and the wall or frame, and a companion hinge unit adapted to be secured to the door and having hinge pin means for reception in the openings in said eye members and acting also to prevent rotation of the latter and their respective shanks relative to the plate member carrying them.

2. A hinge construction for doors having varying degrees of offsets with respect to the wall or frame in which they are mounted comprising, in combination, a hinge unit comprising a single plate-like member having central portions of greater thickness than marginal portions thereof, said marginal portions being provided with means for securing said member to the wall or frame and said central portions having a plurality of alined threaded openings, and a plurality of eye members each terminating in a threaded shank portion, each threaded opening in said central portion of the plate member receiving a threaded shank portion of an eye member, thereby to form said hinge unit, and said eye members having such a pitch of thread and such a rotational position with respect to each other and said plate member that the axes of the openings in said eye members are alined and are spaced commensurately with the offset of said door from said frame, and a companion hinge unit having means for securing it to the door and having eye means adapted to be alined with said openings in said eye members, and a hinge pin passing through said eye members and said 5 eye means for pivotally connecting said hinge units and for preventing rotation of said eye members.

3. A hinge construction for doors having varying degrees of offsets with respect to the wall or frame in which they are mounted comprising, in combination, a base member adapted to be secured to the wall or frame, a plate-like member adapted to be secured to the door, a plurality of parts each having an aperture therein and each rotatably supported by said base member for rotation about an axis at right angles to the axis of said aperture therein and forming therewith a single hinge unit, said plurality of parts extending in a general direction away from the plane of said wall or frame, means comprising hinge pin means engageable in said apertures when the latter are appropriately alined relative thereto for pivotally connecting said plate-like member to said plurality of parts to swing about the axis of said apertures when alined, and means responsive to rotational movement of said plurality of parts, each in increments of 180, relative to said base member for moving said parts each to the same extent, for each increment of rotational movement, in a direction toward or away from said wall or frame and thereby alter the spacing of the axis of pivoting from the plane of said wall or frame while maintaining alinement of the axes of said apertures.

SIGURD BRANTLN'GSON. 

